East Ayrshire Life

It is ten thirty here in Santa Monica, just looked at the weather forecast for home (where it is six thirty at night) and the temperature is eight degrees, rain and a forty mile an hour wind. Where we have just been for a walk in twenty four degrees heat, no wind and not a cloud in the sky. Just what the body and mind needs this time of the year. Virtually over the jet lag so we can enjoy the days. Below are our early Sunday morning stroll shots before the rest of the family emerge from their Sunday morning lay in.

1st.

The shadows are long on the oldies.

Long steps down to the beach.

Butterfly on the beautiful plants.

The tall trees really do not offer much shade.

Cliffs, three lane highway, houses, beach , walkway along the beach and then the Ocean.

The straightness of the grid system of roads, no following the old horse and cart tracks of winding home roads.

2nd.

Just a few from this mornings early walk .

I just love these gnarled old trees with trunks that have a mind of their own.

These ground squirrels have no fear and just come out and eat, far too many of them.

You know me can never resist a fire appliance.

On our way to lunch in Malibu went up into the hills of the Palisades where all the fires were, some areas are starting to be rebuilt, but it is obviously going to take a long while.

5th.

Reminisced by going for walk around the Venice canals such a peaceful haven away from the beach .

One of the six legs on the canal.

No wonder I never saw any fish in the canal with the White Egrets and Cormorants, though good to see the Mallard making themselves at home on the boat.

Loved the curls on this flower.

A Paddle board with a difference.

What a lovely lady sitting in a great spot to read her book.

6th.

I don’t think there has a been an occasion that we have come to Santa Monica that we have not visited the Getty Museum. Every single time we see something new and that is just within the grounds and this time was no exception, in fact we both said this was by far the best visit we have had here a large part of that was also the meal in the restaurant which was wonderful.

The facia finish with this beautiful cream coloured stone makes it all look so clean.

Entered a similar one to this one in a NYCC competition a few years back and still love taking the shadows on the stairs.

A strange angle I know but just wanted to show the peace that is the Getty, compared with the outside world, the highway was so busying stretched for miles.

out across to the Pacific the bay where the Port of L.A. is and the shadow on the horizon is the island of Catalina.

The density that is L.A.

Then there are the gardens and art.

Every visit I photograph these islands in the pond covered in beautiful flowers and the main attraction of the gardens for me, though normally there are some beautiful ducks on the water today there were none.

Overall another four hours of enjoyment wandering that lovely place and so glad it was not affected by the devastating fires of last year in that area..

9th

Our final day in Santa Monica and we walked to the pier, a lovely warm day with a sea breeze cooling us down.

Pelicans look prehistoric and a bit ugly, but just look at the colours so I will say “ugly attractive”.

I think this is a Western Grebe, but I am sure Chuck will correct me if I am wrong.

This is a very friendly Willit, as I was photographing it close up I was thinking “Will it fly or stay”

Looking at the hills from the pier, the rocks in the foreground only appear at low tide and are covered in Cormorants.

A few in surfing and a few paddling, but a beautiful stretch of beach.

My son has two cats, sorry to say this is my favourite Pushkin.

On the last blog I stated we were over here for a special occasion and I can happily tell you that my son and daughter in law invited us over to witness the adoption of wonderful thirteen year old boy called David, who gave us such joy while we were there and to include him in our family, a truly incredible addition for us all.

A lot is going on in our little lives at present and at a months notice our son & daughter in law invited us over to California for a special occasion and we didn’t hesitate to accept and the weeks flew by and I just hadn’t got out to do any real photography, so it will just be images from our first two days over here in America. Even these may not be brilliant shots as with a long layover in Newark Airport our journey took twenty four hours from the time we got up in Edinburgh until the time we entered their apartment. Plus the beast that is called “jet lag”.

27th.

Awake early and a simple walk along the cliff top of Santa Monica.

The pier and beach with a few people on it already, plus the ship in the haze , coming out of Los Angeles.

Being watched by the LAPD. the word got about, us British type need watching.

We never take a trip over here without photographing my sister’s favourite flower.

28th.

It is Saturday , so it must be street market day in Santa Monica, a weekly site that hardly ever changes , but I still love seeing the variety of items available, mostly organic as well.

Very popular.

No uniformaty of shapes in the veg just very fresh and yummy looking.

Fruit galore.

As for the flowers an outstanding amount of choice and all so fresh.

Chinese lanterns still up from the New Year celebrations.

Had to include this Tesla Truck for a certain young man who happens to like it.

So folks that is it for the shortest month, another week or so here so expect a few more shots far from the Scottish West Coast on the American West Coast.

Shortest month and a unusual occurrence which according to the “inter web thingy” only occurs every eight hundred years or so, I am sure one of the followers will correct me if I read it wrong, but it is meant to be the only time we are likely to see four Sundays,Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, each set within a full set of days of the week starting on a Sunday, if you don’t understand me look at a calander and see how neat it looks. Unless some scientific miracle occurs I do not think many of my readers will live for eight hundred years to see another?

2nd.

Went for our daily walk and took my long lens in the hope of getting a close up of the Whopper Swans that were two hundred yards away from my nearest point to them.

Two youngsters and an adult.

Amongst the eight Whopper was this stroppy Mute Swan, here in attack mode.

This ended in a small fight.

Followed by a chase while the others looked on, including the pair of Mallard trying to keep out of the way in the background.

On the same piece of water was these Widgeon.

Just finishing our walk and this helicopter appeared very low belonging to the electricity board, presumably looking at power cables, though I could not see any cables on the shots I took.

6th.

Went out for lunch today in the tiny harbour village of Dunure about five miles south of Ayr. A restaurant we like called The Anchorage that does good seafood. As a bonus to the meal the village has castle foundations going back to thirteenth century but the ruins that stand at present are fifteenth century’s though it was a very cold windy day the camera had to come out.

The ruins from the beach, the cone shaped building is the dovecot which held about two hundred nests and kept the castle supplied with meat and eggs.

The shingle beach and in the distance you can see (centre of shot)the dome shape of Ailsa Craig an island out in the Firth of Clyde.

Another shot of Ailsa Craig, it is un occupied island that is very special, it is the only island or place in the world that genuine Curling stone can be quarried from. A small company in Ayrshire has the sole rights to quarry there and produces the stones from the very hard granite that they collect. In fact as the Winter Olympics are on in Italy at present the one hundred and sixty stones in use at those games were made from here and shipped out as the only stones allowed for the competitions. Think there are many more years of quarrying left seeing the size of the island. Each stone can cost over three hundred pounds when being sold.

Caught the small tanker sailing past in just the right pose.

This is called “Browney’s Cave” and is believed when the castle was built, to be a tunnel that used to go all the way to under the castle for smuggling purposes.

14th.

Went into Ayr today for a quick bit of shopping after overnight temperatures of minus eight C and I have scraped the ice of the car. Got into Ayr and it was plus two, ridiculous.Parked in our usual spot with views down to the Firth and captured this ship at anchor awaiting the tide. After shopping drove down to the seafront and got a closer view of the ship, plus the snow capped Corbetts on Arran. Presume the highest is Goat’s Fell to the right of centre.

15th.

Just making a cup of tea at seven thirty this morning when this Coastguard helicopter came over our house, did two circuits of the glen and flew off. Checked it on Flight Radar and it had come up from Wales did the two circuits and went back to Wales, very strange at this hour on a Sunday, bet it woke a few in the village up.

Yes we are past the shortest day and we are slowly getting more daylight, but this month, after all the festivities seems to be a long month . A few days of sun and warmth would not go a miss and then February being a shorter month will make it nearer Spring. But let’s try and at least live through the rest of this month first. I must admit the daily walks around here help to lift you even if you just go on a thirty minute circuit daily it is so worth it.

17th.

Just going out of our gate for a walk and the house opposite had this “clattering” (that’s what they are called in a collection) of Jackdaws in their trees. “The Birds” all over again.

Am I getting better at capturing the bull?

Why bother with grass when this hay/silage is available.

19th

After we visited the tunnel (see previous bonus blog) we went along the sea front and saw these two ships in the distance waiting to go up the Clyde Estuary when the tide was high, not sure what they were carrying but big ships.

23rd.

Define happiness.

To me seeing the first bulbs of Spring the Snowdrops out and a sign that Winter will soon be gone.

24th.

Six Whooper Swans on the small Loch from along the normal riverside walk.

29th.

We have often been told to leave a garden for a year after moving into a new house, just to see exactly what plants you have inherited in it.

The people that owned this house before us obviously enjoyed their Spring bulbs as we have a good collection of them and cannot wait for them to flower. Below is a selection of the original plants that we can see.

A central bed in our rear garden showing a lot of Daffodils sprouting up plus (as shown in the second shot) a close up of our own Snowdrops opening up, the previous ones were growing on a bank on a walk. The Hydrangea took a bit of a battering in the cold, but I am sure it will start budding up soon, though may not flower this year.

A weeping tree we have in the garden which we are not sure what it is until we get some foliage has just started budding up.

This variegated Euonymous has given us a good bright colour throughout the Winter.

A very dear friend gave us this plant some twenty years ago when we moved into our previous home, it did not like our climate/soil much but we managed to keep one small plant going and even bring with us, only to find it was already thriving here, so the memory can continue. Not sure what it is called.

A bed between the path to the front door and our drive shows again a good selection of bulbs coming through.

A variegated Holly that has proved colourful throughout the Winter, plus a good hiding place close to the feeders when the Sparrowhawk is around.\

The most advanced Daffodil in the garden due (I presume) to the protection the shrub has given it in cold weather. One to remember to move once spent, away from the shrub so we can see it better.

During this miserable January boring month I thought I would add a bonus blog on the many shots I took when out for a morning ride/walk into Alloway, the area of Ayr which is the birthplace and home of Rabbie Burns. Here, with the aid of a Lottery grant and treemendous local support they have turned a horrid disused railway tunnel, dull, dirty, unlit, graffiti one, into a wonderful tourist attraction and some incredible art. Could not separate most of the shots I took into part of the next blog, so kept them all together to bore (sorry to entertain you) with an Ayrshire delight.

Coming down from the road on the lefthand side of this shot, you have no idea that the tunnel entrance in front of you will be one hundred and fifty yards of delight.

The first part of the mural is of course Rabbie himself sitting at his desk with his ever faithful dog and all the animals he wrote about.

Tam O Shanter fleeing on his horse from the evil things going on in the Kirk behind him.

Ploughing from the poem To A Mouse.

Rabbie’s sheep in it’s splendid tartan scarf.

Scenes from his garden.

Scenes of the local industries, curling stones on the cart mined from the island Ailsa Craig, the only place in the world where real stones originate from and the paddle steamer Waverly

Locals were asked to contribute to the artwork by paying for their faces to be included within the murals, though the figure in the last one reminds me of our King Charles, I wonder?

The artwork is not yet completed and this was the end piece ready to receive the last few yards of uncompleted mural.

The art is on both sides of the tunnel and even the ceiling is decorated around the lights.

At the far end the railway crosses a bridge over the River Doon, the first bridge you see is the road bridge outside the Brig A Doon hotel and beyond that you can just see the edge of the actual Brig A Doon.

As you turn round and come out of the tunnel in front of you is a small road tunnel. I wonder if that will be next to get some art?

Hope you enjoyed.

Well the year has started off well, a meal out with the wife, youngest son and his partner at The Brig O Doon Hotel which has a well laid out restaurant over looking the River Doon and the bridge over it from Robert Burns famous Tam O Shanter poem.

Then today went for a short walk in the sunny below zero temperature and captured a (not to sharp) an image that I have wanted to bring you for a couple of months.

2nd.

The Bull

Still room for improvement, so watch this space.

3rd.

Been getting up to the clear skies and low temperatures and this full Wolf Moon, so got up at seven went out in the garden in my dressing gown and filmed the moon today as it was 99.99% a full moon at the moment I took it very low over the garden. I tried getting it through the shrubs to show how low it was, but ended up with the shot of the shrub in focus and the moon acting as a back light. moved slightly and got the second shot.

It was only when I went in that I realised the twenty minutes outside had made me so cold, looked at the temperature and it was minus two point seven, dressing gown was a bit inappropriate.

3rd.

Lights down, decorations packed away, all the lovely baubles and streamers the lot, now up the loft. Finally death of the Christmas Tree hacked to pieces ready to get to the dump and be recycled.

6th.

Just to show you the morning temperatures for the last four days, the two days before that were also below zero on getting up but never recorded them, as you can see at last the temperature has crept up today to be above zero, mainly because we had snow overnight. Not a great deal but enough to christen my snow shovel for the first time since last winter, put it this way a lot less hard work than the new owners of our old house is having to do at present.

9th.

Went into the village for some shopping and crossed the Parrie Burn and though earlier in the week I am sure it would have been more frozen, there is still a good amount of ice still on it.

12th.

A walk along the river today and came across this very friendly Dipper. Normally as you approach them they are off at lightening speed along the river. This one sat on the branch, pretty well hidden , but I was just on the opposite bank shooting away and the song it was singing was a real surprise to me, very vocal. There is always a branch in the way with decent shots of shy birds, but this was the best I got.

15th.

Went on a new walk today (sun shining for once), along the old railway line embankment, a bit muddy but will be a great spot to walk in the summer.

You all know me by now and I have a built in magnet that attracts me towards water and fishing, this wee lochan has apparently got some good Pike in it so shall give that a go sometime. It is only a half mile walk from home , in fact if you enlarge the shot above , in between the two sets of mounds (roughly dead centre) are some trees and where they stop, to the right of them are a row of white, the first one of the white is in fact our bungalow.

Two swans on the Lochan, plus in the distance I saw at least three other water birds, must take my bigger lens or binoculars next walk.

Self explanatory. At the end of my walk.

The old railway line goes all the way into Ayr and the ambition is to make it walkable the whole way (12 miles or so) into Ayr. In the meantime the sheep seem happy to graze here.

Those that know my photography know I am a sucker for single trees.

Just shows that even with snow, frost and bitterly cold weather, things continue to grow.

As we come to the end of yet another year it seems strange to be starting a new one somewhere different than I have for the past twenty years, but slowly I am getting used to lifestyle we now have in our new home. Shopping wise Ayr is nearer than Perth, as it is for hospital appointments and we have a great doctors surgery in our own town instead of travelling to Pitlochry (one mile instead of eight). The family butchers is a wonderful cheerful and good quality place to visit and the people in our road are lovely, not that Fenderbridge wasn’t, just we are a lot closer down here than the isolated spot we were in Blair Atholl. As for the fishing well, as I stated in the last blog the less said about that the better, but it will improve (I hope).

23rd.

Went for a good long walk before the hard work of Christmas began and got a slightly better shot of the elusive Black Bull, next target to get him standing ups to show his size off better.

In the same field was this Highland pony scrounging amongst the dung heap.

25th

Our home alone Christmas Dinner, right to left Cauliflower Cheese, Sausage meat stuffing, Sage &Thyme stuffing, Brussel Sprouts with chestnuts, Roasted Potatoes and on our plates already plenty of turkey ( we got a “serves nine people” one just for the two us) Roasted Parsnips and peas. Plus of course a glass of bubbly. Christmas pudding was left for Boxing Day as we were so full up.

29th

Photographed two new birds for the site the first being my second favourite small bird the Long Tailed Tit, have seen them around but not in the garden and on this occasion there were three but I only captured two on this shot plus a Coal Tit. Siskins being my favourite small bird.

Another regular in the garden that I had not captured on the camera are a pair of Magpies , though as I was looking out of the bedroom / office window caught this one under the window. Four days over Christmas having been below zero Centigrade has made the birds really hungry, so my seed bags are going down rapidly.

Sorry just a small blog, but Christmas, New Year all managed to get in the way of photography.

All that is left of 2025 are memories and may 2026 be a wonderful adventure for you all and at the end of that part of your life bring many new memories and happiness.

My theme for 2026 is the world needs happiness, so help me to spread that everywhere.

Love you all. Dave

No not the pop group just our weather, apparently it has been the wettest November this century and looks like it is going to continue throughout the start of this month. Truthfully it has not been the weather to go out photographing anything and I have been waiting since the first to get out to fish, as I have no fish since living here in the freezer to smoke for Christmas. Unheard of, as you will see below my first opportunity for a good day was Friday and I was out like a shot first thing.

12th.

So I chose a new venue to me to go Trout fishing for the first time this month, a commercial fishery that seemed ideal. Opens at eight a.m. and I was there at nine. Cold, only three degrees C but fish rising and I was feeling hopeful. Got a four hour ticket that enabled me to take two fish and fish catch and release after that. I had three fish in that four hours come and look at my fly and say “no thank you” and that was it. Five other guys were fishing and only one of them caught a single fish and apparently he fishes once a week so knows the water and flies to use. Bit dissapointed but as you can see a beautiful day, a pleasant spot to fish and good to get out instead of being stuck in the house everyday. As I stated last blog, my son thinks I am losing my touch, maybe I am, hope not.

13th.

My son is Head Ranger at Colzean Castle (you don’t pronounce the Z) and last weekend and this they allow visitors into the traditional victorian Christmas decorated castle and have a craft fair on site. he very kindly offered to take us on his day off to see it. It is a beautiful castle and looked lovely with holly and ivy and trees in most rooms plus decorations in style with the building.

Incidentally for my American readers, the top floor was given to Eisenhower after the Second World War as a thank you for his contribution to the war. He visited and stayed during his presidency.

I just loved the spiral staircase and how they had decorated it, plus the modern addition of the Father Christmas hat on the bust.

15th.

Went for a walking got these shots.

We have had so much rain that the fields are soggy and not draining.

Love the grass in the sheep’s mouth looks like a real country person.

A few Geese not bothered by our prescence.

Liked the reflection in the very still flood water. The birds in the tree are either Redwings or Fieldfare, a Winter visitor from Russia.

Lichen with a drip (no not me)

An old woodland with plenty of moss on the trees.

The wife walking on while I take yet more photos.

Horses wrapped up from the cold and enjoying their hay.

16th.

Wole up to a minus six C frost so out with the camera.

Honeysuckle starting to bud up but ice crystals on it might slow it’s progress down.

Whatever the weather the Robin is always somewhere in the garden, though hiding for me today.

Do not think any washing will be hanging of the line today.

The frosty nature reserve the other side of our fence, mist over the river in the distance.

A few of the frosted plants within our garden.

I am sorry the blog ids a bit late but I had a problem downloading the last lot of shots. All that is left is to wish you all a very Happy Christmas .

Saw the forecast and realised our old home would be getting snow, but over here on the West Coast snow is a fairly rare event , because of the Gulf Stream etc. As you will see the higher hills got an icing sugar coating of snow, but none with us. What I wasn’t expecting was this very cold snap we are experiencing. Three nights running we have been down to minus five C and last night went down to just below minus six, so fairly nippy.

20th.

The dusting on our hills.

One thing with such cold weather is the clear skies and sunshine, though not much heat in the low sun for this female Blackbird.

My feet would be frozen standing on the frosty fence, but it seems nothing to this Robin.

.A Boeing Globemaster from the R.AF. Brize Norton airfield coming in to land at Prestwick Airport just 3500 feet above us, it stayed on the ground at Prestwick for about ten minutes, waited for an Airbus A400M to touch and take off (also from Brize Norton) and followed it home. Missed the A400 but captured the Globemaster as it flew a bit further West of us on the return journey (below).

22nd.

Two days after the cold snap and we are back into the wet weather, still went for a walk in the “muzzle” (mist and drizzle combined) .

Before we got out the door the male Blackbird was sitting on the fence where the Robin was in a previous shot and just like our last house the Blackbirds are knowing that if they sit there long enough pleading hunger, one of us will throw out a handful of sultanas to keep them going. At the moment it is only one male and two of his females, know doubt word will get around over winter and their mates will learn the trick as well.

On the walk today was a massive black Highland Bull and it is really a fine specimen, stood there in the rain trying to persuade it to turn and show it’s face in all it’s splendour, but would not have it at all. Another challenge for me to achieve.

Just to show what a horrid day it was looking out over the boggy moors towards the loch with one of the two resident Swans looking on.

24th.

Another challenge for me was walking along the footpath through the Scout garden there runs a burn that eventually joins the River Doon, I have spotted three Dippers on this stretch , but never able to photograph any of them. Today that challenge was defeated.

Okay the grass stems ruin the shots, but they were there so I won’t use post processing to remove them.

A close up of the Dipper, such amazing colour and still droplets of water on the feathers, sat there for about ten seconds before it went under and continued it’s hunt for food .

The return walk takes us past the towns football pitch and I was intrigued to see some activity on the grass with a man following a robot around. It turns out this machine can work out how true and square the soccer pitch is and as the team is up and coming (at present top of their league ) that may be important if they gain promotion. Apparently the pitch is slightly out and this machine will go round with a grass coloured paint and show the groundsman where the white lines should be and they can alter it if they wish.

27th.

Work is starting next week on our streets water system, so the bosses arrived to discuss it , where would we be without mobile phones?

29th

Went over to my son and partners village is across the moors a couple of miles of just sheep and cattle. Though the road is single track a lot of it is a straight and up and down as the shot shows.

Wind farms dominate the hills.

Love this sign.

Heading home the Windmills above our town are in the distance.

30th.

End of the month and we finish it the way we started with a minus four C frost. This my poor old car at ten thirty in the morning still really frozen up. As you can see my driveway does not get the sun first thing so it will still be frozen for at least another hour, but the car on the other side of the road has virtually defrosted in the sunshine. Should not really complain as no real snow to clear as yet, but let us see what next month will bring.

Well we are into November and I thought I would start off with a bang and as we went to our son’s village for the fifth of November ( Guy Fawkes night) celebration that is exactly what happened . The display is getting a really good reputation for being one of the best free shows in the area, they do have buckets for contributions towards next years display and I am sure they raised a good deal of money as there were at least a thousand people attended.

5th

Just a few of the eighty shots I took including the bonfire that started the event and the shot above that showed how fierce it was by the side light on people gathered around me. Unfortunately we did get some rain and though it did not dampen the spirits of people or the fireworks, it did cause a few spots on my lens.

As a point of interest my neighbour across the road is Officer in Charge of our town “on call” firefighters and he was out on a call and to get back to our fire station had to pass through my sons village, though I had this shot on long exposure it gives the impression that it was speeding past the event it wasn’t .

7th.

What a beautiful morning to be out on a boat fishing Belston Loch, sun shining and initially hardly a ripple on the water. Fish rising every where, could not wish to be anywhere better on such a cracking day, even the moon was still visible just above the central cloud.

Fished from nine until twelve raised maybe three good sized Rainbow Trout, but never caught any of them. Who cares it was a beautiful Autumn day and I had the Loch to myself and just didn’t have a worry in the world just soak it all in, of course a fish for tea would have been good , but I had an excellent relaxing morning. HONEST.

15th.

Spent the morning prepping the kitchen ready to start decorating and though it is a cold ( seven degrees C) afternoon with a brisk North wind we decided to go a small walk around the block. Of course took my camera with me and these were the results.

I love dead weed stems even more when they have snow or frost on, but these were attractive enough to capture.

The sun light on the Pampus Grass in our garden was fun to take as well.

The iron Wren is taking on some wonderful colour as it starts to rust on the fence.